Members

Agriculture

Rick Felker (Executive Committee, Vice-Chair)
Mattawoman Creek Farms
Eastville, Virginia

Spencer Neale
Senior Assistant Director, Commodities & Marketing
Virginia Farm Bureau Federation
Richmond, VA

Katherine Smith
Virginia Association for Biological Farming
Buena Vista, VA

Anti-Hunger Organizations

Dominic Gibbons Barrett is the Director of United Methodist Urban Ministries of Richmond and Shalom Farms, a nonprofit community farm project with the overarching goal of increasing food security in the Richmond region, particularly in low-income urban neighborhoods. Each year the program provides tens of thousands of pounds of sustainably grown produce and educational opportunities to the children and families in Richmond who need it most. He currently serves on the Richmond Public Schools Garden Task Force and chairs the enterprise development subcommittee of the Mayors Food Policy Task Force. In 2010, Bread for the World recognized Dominic as one of 75 “Hunger Justice Leaders” — leaders under 30 from across the US identified as”the best and brightest young advocates” on issues of hunger. He came to UMUMR from Palmetto Project in Charleston, SC were he ran their statewide Youth, Families and Schools Programs.

Leslie Van Horn, CEO
Federation of Virginia Food
Norfolk, VA

Public Health

Lynda Fanning (Executive Committee, Secretary) retired in 2011 as Director of Clinical Nutrition at UVa Health System, and is grateful for more hours to  work toward a sustainable food system in Virginia and thereby healthy Virginians.  She talks a lot about 9 or more servings a day of colorful fruits and veggies, raised in the freshest, safest, and most  sustainable ways, about making them and other locally produced foods accessible to all, and about involving kids in the excitement and deliciousness of growing, harvesting, shopping for, and preparing these flavor-rich foods.  Her 6 grandkids (ages 1-5)  look for green and other colors on their plates, and are clear about where food comes from. Besides being a charter Director who helped to develop the Va. Food System Council from 2007-2009,  she also works on the UVa Food Collaborative Steering Committee and as Film Series Chair; the Board of C’ville’s “Market Central”, a non-profit which supports the city’s farmers’ market; the Virginia Dietetic Association as its Sustainable Food System Representative from the Blue Ridge District, and on its Advisory Board for Breastfeeding in Virginia; and finally on the Advisory Board  for Charlottesville’s “Community Action on Obesity,” focusing on local food, health and access issues in the city and area.  She buys primarily local foods, so it was easy to pledge $60-a-week, at a minimum, to our $10-A-Week Challenge!

Conservation

Don Loock (Executive Committee -Chair)lives in Amissville Virginia where he and his family steward a 106 acre family  farm that is managed for both wildlife habitat and agricultural production.   He is a founding member and current Chairman of the Virginia Food System Council as well as a founding member and Director of the Unitarian Universalists of the Blue Ridge. He graduated Appalachian State University with a B.S. in Outdoor Experiential Education and completed graduate work in Resource Management from Antioch New England.  He currently provides support for landowners wishing to better steward their lands through his position as the Land Conservation Officer in Rappahannock and Clarke Counties for the Piedmont Environmental Council; a position he has held for the last 6 years.   In this capacity he has led various workshops and courses centered on agricultural stewardship and agricultural entrepreneurism including the Exploring the Small Farm Dream course developed by the New England Small Farm Institute.

DESIGNATED ALTERNATE
Sue Ellen Johnson
Director of Agriculture and Rural Economy Programs
Piedmont Environmental Council
Warrenton, VA

Consumer

Rachel Burns is the Executive Director of the Hampton Roads Chapter of Buy Fresh Buy Local. In her position since August of 2010, Rachel has helped BFBLHR expand their mission to connect consumers to fresh, local food and in the process to help support local farmers and producers. Before her time with BFBLHR, Rachel interned with the City of Virginia Beach Agriculture Department and helped them create and market agritourism models for the city’s farmers market and area farms. Her background is in professional writing, public relations, news media and marketing.

Food Acquisition for Institutions/Infrastructure

Food Supply and Product Distribution

Molly Harris (Executive Committee Member) was first inspired to support the local food movement in 1999 when spending summers  in Vermont with her three very young children and was reminded of her own childhood and the fabulous fresh food she enjoyed growing up.  It was this recollected appreciation that motivated her to open her own restaurant, Edible Garden, in 2004 showcasing locally sourced ingredients and educating customers on the importance of supporting their local agricultural community.

In late 2008, Molly began an on-line farmers market with the farmers serving the restaurant and the customers seeking their fabulous ingredients for their own pantries.  The next spring, Fall Line Farms, opened a second season of business with on-line capabilities, growing from 25 farmers selling to one pick up location to over fifty farmers selling to five pick up locations.  Today, the hub supports over 100 local farmers and serves customers picking up orders from over a dozen pick up locations throughout the metropolitan Richmond region. Lulus Local Food, the full service on-line program has provided a means for starting six additional hubs with multiple pick up locations and supporting more than more than 250 local farmers and small businesses with weekly sales year round. As the founder of this ever expanding project, Harris has involved herself in many aspects of the local food movement in Virginia including serving on the executive committees for the Virginia Food System Council and the Virginia Farmers Direct Marketing Association, a founding member of the Virginia Farm to School Working Group, a participant in the Richmond City Mayor’s Food Council and leader of the Richmond Area Buy Fresh Buy Local Chapter.

Emily Manley
Manager, Communications & Outreach
Local Food Hub
Charlottesville, VA

Local Food Council or Group

Allie Hill (Executive Committee Member, Treasurer) is the Project Director for Virginia Food Works, a full-service food processing facility located in Prince Edward County, Virginia.  Food Works is a non-profit organization whose mission is to support farmers by educating and assisting in the production of value-added foods.  Facility services include co-packing of fresh produce and creating bulk food products for public school systems, food banks and institutions. Allie also founded Homegrown Virginia, a local food distribution company that represents nonperishable foods (canned, frozen, dehydrated) that have locally grown ingredients and are produced in Virginia.

Steven M. (Mike) Waldmann is the Executive Director for the Society of St. Andrew (SoSA).  SoSA is the premier field gleaning organization in the nation.  Each year SoSA saves and distributes 20-30 million pounds of fresh produce to feed the hungry in America.  All of this produce is perfectly good to eat, it simply isn’t perfect enough for grocery stores or is excess to market needs.  This highly nutritious excess bounty is distributed to vital feeding programs all across the country. SoSA also engages over 30,000 volunteers each year in its hunger relief programs.  SoSA works with farmers and produce distribution facilities all across the Comonwealth of VA and the nation to save fresh produce of all types. Through good stewardship of all resources, SoSA is able to provide nutritious fresh produce to the hungry at a cost of just 7 cents per pound while keeping total overhead costs down to about 4%.  Founded and headquartered in Big Island, VA, SoSA has been successful for over 33 years.  Mike guides the council in the area of food justice.

Local Government

Melvin Atkinson
Virginia Beach Dept of Agriculture
Virginia Beach, VA

Schools

Andrea Early serves as the School Nutrition Program Director for Harrisonburg City Public Schools (HCPS), a small division of 5,000 students located in western Virginia.  She is responsible for all aspects of program management including menu planning, procurement, food distribution, and staff training and development.  Andrea and her staff have worked diligently to improve the nutritional quality of the meals served to Harrisonburg students, with a focus on more scratch cooked and locally sourced foods.  The HCPS Farm to School program has grown incrementally each school year. Currently, an average of 10% of the division’s food supplies is sourced locally.

Andrea serves as the school representative to the Virginia Food System Council, is the Virginia State Lead for the National Farm to School Network, and is an active member of the Virginia Farm to School Task Force. She has been a member of the School Nutrition Association of Virginia’s education committee for the past three years. She is an active member of her local School Nutrition Association chapter and currently serves as president. Andrea received a BS in Nutrition from Penn State, an MS in Health Sciences from James Madison University, and completed a dietetic internship with the Virginia Department of Health.  She lives in Staunton, VA with her husband and two young sons.

Catherine Digilio-Grimes
Director, Office of School Nutrition Programs
Virginia Department of Education
Richmond, VA

Senior/Intergenerational Services

Gordon Walker has been the chief executive officer of the Jefferson Area Board for Aging since 1982, presiding over all the operations, finances, and development activities of JABA and its nine subsidiaries.  JABA’s affiliated entities, including non-profit and for-profit organizations, provide home healthcare, housing and community center development, and assisted living management.  He is an adjunct professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Virginia.  He has served as president of several local and state nonprofit organizations and was chair of the Albemarle County School Board.  In 1995 and again in 2005, Gordon was appointed to the White House Conference on Aging as a representative for the State of Virginia.  Prior to his tenure at JABA, he was associate director of the Georgia State University Gerontology Center, a legislative aide to the U.S. Senate Committee on Aging and deputy director of the Vermont Department of Aging.  His degree is a Master of Science in City Planning and Urban Studies from San Diego State University and he has a certificate in gerontology from Georgia State University.

DESIGNATED ALTERNATE
Judy Berger
Community Nutrition Manager
Jefferson Area Board for Aging
Charlottesville, VA

Sustainability

Christy Gabbardserves as director of the Catawba Sustainability Center where she manages center operations and helps community members achieve their business, research, and/or education goals. She participates in numerous public outreach and community service activities as well as creates a programmatic platform for students, faculty, and staff for the development and application of best practices in sustainable development, regionally-focused “green” business development, and best land management practices. She also works closely with the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Coalition helping grow new farmers and teach them successful business strategies.

Dale Gardner is the Chesapeake Agricultural Coordinator for Water Stewardship, Inc.  He comes to us from a farming and water conservation background. After graduating from Virginia Tech he became a partner in his family Dairy business working a pure bred Holstein dairy herd and then spent 8 years as the Executive Secretary of the Virginia State Dairymens Association while co-founding the Waste Solutions Forum.

Virginia State Government

Charles Green is the Director of the Division of Marketing and Development at the Virginia Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services (VDACS).  The Division’s goal is to assist Virginia’s wide array of growers and agribusinesses in moving more product into both domestic and international markets.  Charles directs global marketing initiatives for agricultural and forestry products harvested in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The VDACS Marketing Division includes International Marketing, Commodity Services, Domestic Sales and Market Development, Promotions, Agriculture and Forestry Development Services, and Livestock Marketing.  Charles has been with VDACS since 2005.

Jan Briede, Ph.D. (Executive Committee Member)
Stormwater Outreach Manager
Virginia Dept of Conservation and Recreation
Richmond, VA

Heidi L. Hertz, MS, RD is the Obesity Prevention Coordinator with the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth. Heidi is a Registered Dietitian and is currently working in public health to expand partnerships and initiatives pioneering new obesity prevention strategies throughout the Commonwealth.  Heidi actively coordinates obesity prevention initiatives promoting good nutrition, physical activity, and healthy communities throughout Virginia.  Heidi promotes buying and supporting local agriculture as a strategy to promote health and wellness.

Eric Bendfeldt (Executive Committee Member) works as an Extension Specialist for Community Viability with Virginia Cooperative Extension. His focus areas are community-based food systems, community planning and sustainable economic development, leadership development, and agricultural entrepreneurship. Eric is a member of the executive committee of the Virginia Food System Council for which he previously served as Chair, and served as lead author on the recently released Virginia Farm to Table Plan. He also worked to facilitate the development and organization of the Shenandoah Valley Produce Auction. Eric and his wife, Mary, worked with Mennonite Central Committee in Tanzania, East Africa from 1988 to 1995, where Eric worked as a community development coordinator and agriculturalist. Eric completed a B.A. in history from James Madison University in 1987, a B.S. degree in Crops and Soil Environmental Sciences in 1997 and a M.S. in Forestry in 1999 from Virginia Tech. He is a 2008 Fellow of the Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute.

Sarah Weeda
Research, School of Agriculture
Virginia State University
Petersburg, VA 23806

Resource Members

Matt Benson
Graduate Student, Ph.D. candidate
Virginia Tech
Department of Agriculture and Extension Education
Blacksburg, VA

Christopher Carpenter
Special Projects Coordinator
Washington & Lee University
Lexington, VA

Kate Collier
Founder, Local Food Hub
Co-Owner, Feast
Charlottesville, VA

Brian Calhoun
Associate Director
Virginia Cooperative Extension
Blacksburg, VA

Tanya Denckla-Cobb
Associate Director
Institute for Environmental Negotiation
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA

Pablo Elliott (TBD)
Pablo’s Garlic
Gainesville, VA

Anthony Flaccavento
Executive Director
Scale, Inc.
Abingdon, VA

Jewel Hairston
Interim Dean, School of Agriculture
Virginia State University
Petersburg, VA

Theresa Nartea
Extension Specialist, Marketing
Virginia State University
Petersburg, VA

Glen Sink
Executive Director
Center for Rural Virginia
Richmond, VA

Kathlyn Terry
Executive Director
Appalachian Sustainable Development
Abingdon, VA

Christopher Carpenter
Lexington, VA